94 Part II: Weaving It Together: Bones, Muscles, and Skin
Chapter 6 As you may remember from studying tissues, muscle cells — called fibers — are some
Getting in Gear: The Muscles
In This Chapter
䊳 Understanding the functions and structure of muscles
䊳 Classifying types of muscle
䊳 Pulling together: Muscles as organs
䊳 Breaking down muscle contractions, tone, and power
䊳 Deciphering muscle names
M uch of what we think of as “the body” centers around our muscles and what they can
do, what we want them to do, and how tired we get trying to make them do it. With
all that muscles do and are, it’s hard to believe the word “muscle” is rooted in the Latin
word musculus, which is a diminutive of the word for “mouse.” Well, the muscle is a mouse
that roars. Muscles make up most of the fleshy parts of the body and average 43 percent of
the body’s weight. Layered over the skeleton, they largely determine the body’s form. There
are over 500 muscles large enough to be seen by the unaided eye, and thousands more are
visible only through a microscope. Although there are three distinct types of muscle tissue,
every muscle in the human body shares one important characteristic: contractility, the abil-
ity to shorten, or contract.
Flexing Your Muscle Knowledge
The study of muscles is called myology after the Greek word mys, which means “mouse.”
Muscles perform a number of functions vital to maintaining life, including
⻬ Movement: Skeletal muscles (those attached to bones) convert chemical energy into
mechanical work, producing movement ranging from finger tapping to a swift kick of a
ball by contracting, or shortening. Reflex muscle reactions protect your fingers when
you put them too close to a fire and startle you into watchfulness when an unexpected
noise sounds. Many purposeful movements require several sets, or groups, of muscles
to work in unison.
⻬ Vital functions: Without muscle activity, you die. Muscles are doing their job when
your heart beats, when your blood vessels constrict, and when your intestines squeeze
food along your digestive tract in peristalsis.
⻬ Antigravity: Perhaps that’s overstating it, but muscles do make it possible for you to
stand and move about in spite of gravity’s ceaseless pull. Did your mother tell you to
improve your posture? Just think how bad it would be without any muscles!
⻬ Heat generation: You shiver when you’re cold and stamp your feet and jog in place
when you need to warm up. That’s because chemical reactions in muscles result in
heat, helping to maintain the body’s temperature.
⻬ Keep the body together: Muscles are the warp and woof of your body’s structure,
binding one part to another.
of the longest in the body. Fibers are held together by connective tissue and enclosed
in a fibrous sheath called fascia. Some muscle fibers contract rapidly, whereas others
move at a leisurely pace. Generally speaking, however, the smaller the structure to be
moved, the faster the muscle action. Exercise can increase the thickness of muscle
fibers, but it doesn’t make new fibers. Skeletal muscles have a rich vascular supply
that dilates during exercise to give the working muscle the extra oxygen it needs to
keep going.
Two processes are central to muscle development in the developing embryo: myogene-
sis, during which muscle tissue is formed; and morphogenesis, when the muscles form
into internal organs. By the eighth week of gestation, a fetus is capable of coordinated
movement.
Following are some important muscle terms to know:
⻬ Fascia: Loose, or areolar, connective tissue that holds muscle fibers together to
form a muscle organ
⻬ Fiber: An individual muscle cell
⻬ Insertion: The more movable attachment of a muscle
⻬ Ligament: Elastic connective tissue that supports joints and anchors organs
⻬ Motor nerve: Nerve that stimulates contraction of a muscle
⻬ Myofibril: Fibrils within a muscle cell that contain protein filaments such as
actin and myosin that slide during contraction, shortening the fiber (or cell)
⻬ Origin: The immovable attachment of a muscle, or the point at which a muscle is
anchored by a tendon to the bone
⻬ Sarcoplasm: The cellular cytoplasm in a muscle fiber
⻬ Tendon: Connective tissue made up of collagen, a fibrous protein that attaches
muscles to bone; lets muscles apply their force at some distance from where a
contraction actually takes place
⻬ Tone, or tonus: State of tension present to a degree at all times, even when the
muscle is at rest
Complete the following practice questions to see how well you understand the basics
of myology:
1. Which of the following is not a true statement?
a. Muscles represent 90 percent of the total body weight.
b. The ancient Greek word mys means “mouse.”
c. The muscles covering the bones largely determine the form of the body.
d. Posture is an expression of muscle action.
2. Muscle functions include
a. Support of the bony tissues of the body
b. Blood formation
c. Converting chemical energy into mechanical work
d. Only a and c
 Chapter 6: Getting in Gear: The Muscles 95 96 Part II: Weaving It Together: Bones, Muscles, and Skin

3. A necessary property for a muscle to perform work is longer than those of other muscle tissue, and fatigue is rare. Each fiber is about
6 microns in diameter and can vary from 15 microns to 500 microns long. If
a. Extensibility arranged in a circle inside an organ, contraction constricts the cavity inside the
b. Contractility organ. If arranged lengthwise, contraction of smooth muscle tissue shortens
the organ.
c. Elasticity
⻬ Cardiac muscle tissue: Found only in the heart, cardiac muscle fibers are
d. All of the above branched, cross-striated, feature one central nucleus, and move through involun-
tary control. An electron microscope view of the tissue shows separate fibers
4. The cellular unit in muscle tissue is the tightly pressed against each other, forming cellular junctions called intercalated
a. Filament discs that look like tiny, dark-colored plates. Some experts believe intercalated
discs are not cellular junctions but rather special structures that help move an
b. Myofibril electrical impulse throughout the heart.
c. Fiber ⻬ Skeletal muscle tissue: This is the tissue that most people think of as muscle.
d. Fasciculus It’s the only muscle subject to voluntary control through the central nervous
system. Its long, striated cylindrical fibers contract quickly but tire just as fast.
5. A partial state of contraction, in part, defines Skeletal muscle, which is also what’s considered meat in animals, is 20 percent
protein, 75 percent water, and 5 percent organic and inorganic materials. Each
a. Rigor multinucleated fiber is encased in a thin, transparent membrane called a sar-
b. Tonus colemma that receives and conducts stimuli. The fibers, which vary from 10
microns to 100 microns in diameter and up to 4 centimeters in length, are subdi-
c. Clovus vided lengthwise into tiny myofibrils roughly 1 micron in diameter that are sus-
d. Paralysis pended in the cell’s sarcoplasm.

6. It’s possible to completely relax every muscle in the body. The following practice questions test your knowledge of muscle classifications:

a. True
9. This type of muscle tissue lacks cross-striations.
b. False
a. Cardiac
7. During embryonic development, tissue development is called b. Smooth
a. Myogelosis c. Skeletal
b. Morphogenesis d. Contracting
c. Myogenesis
10. Skeletal muscle fibers are encased in
d. Morpholysis
a. A sarcolemma
8. Exercise forms new muscle fibers. b. Sarcoplasm
a. True c. Sarcomeres
b. False d. A sarcophagus

11. Which muscle type appears only in a single organ?

Classifications: Smooth, a. Contractile

Cardiac, and Skeletal b. Smooth

c. Cardiac
Muscle tissue is classified in three ways based on the tissue’s function, shape, and d. Skeletal
structure:
12. Intercalated discs
⻬ Smooth muscle tissue: So-called because it doesn’t have the cross-striations typ-
a. Anchor cardiac muscle fibers to one another
ical of other kinds of muscle, the spindle-shaped fibers of smooth muscle tissue
do have faint longitudinal striping. This muscle tissue forms into sheets and b. May play a role in moving electrical impulses through the heart
makes up the walls of hollow organs such as the stomach, intestines, and blad-
c. Are found only in the muscles of the back
der. The tissue’s involuntary movements are relatively slow, so contractions last
d. Contribute to tactile perception
 Chapter 6: Getting in Gear: The Muscles 97 98 Part II: Weaving It Together: Bones, Muscles, and Skin

Contracting for a Contraction
Before we can explain how muscles do what they do, it’s important that you under-
stand the anatomy of how they’re put together. Use Figure 6-1 as a visual guide as you
read through this section.
We base this description of muscle on the most studied classification of muscle: skele-
tal. Each fiber packed inside the sarcolemma contains hundreds, or even thousands, of
myofibril strands made up of alternating filaments of the proteins actin and myosin.
Actin and myosin are what give skeletal muscles their striated appearance, with alter-
nating dark and light bands. The dark bands are called anisotropic, or A-bands. The
light bands are called isotropic, or I-bands. In the center of each I-band is a line called
the Z-line that divides the myofibril into smaller units called sarcomeres. At the center
of the A-band is a less-dense region called the H-zone.
Now, here’s where the actin and myosin come in. Each sarcomere contains thick fila-
ments of myosin in the A-band and thin filaments of actin primarily in the I-band but
extending a short distance between the myosin filaments into the A-band. Actin fila-
ments don’t extend all the way into the central area of the A-band, which explains why
the less-dense H-zone can be found there. Those thin actin filaments are anchored to
the Z-line at their midpoints, which holds them in place and creates a structure against
which the filaments exert their pull during contraction.
The theory of contraction called the Interdigitating Filament Model of Muscle
Contraction, or the Sliding Theory of Muscle Contraction, says that the myosin of the
thick filaments combines with the actin of the thin filaments, forming actomyosin and
prompting the filaments to slide past each other. As they do so, the H-zone is reduced
or obliterated, pulling the Z-lines closer together and reducing the I-bands. (The
A-bands don’t change.) Voila! Contraction has occurred!
So you know how muscles contract. Now you need to figure out what stimulates them
to do so. We cover the details of the nervous system in Chapter 15, but here you can
find out what’s happening as an impulse stimulates a skeletal muscle.
The impulse, or stimulus, from the central nervous system is brought to the muscle
through a nerve called the motor, or efferent, nerve. On entering the muscle, the motor
nerve fibers separate to distribute themselves among the thousands of muscle fibers.
Because the muscle has more fibers than the motor nerve, individual nerve fibers
branch repeatedly so that a single nerve fiber innervates from 5 to as many as 200
muscle fibers. These small terminal branches penetrate the sarcolemma and form a
special structure known as the motor end plate, or synapse. This neuromuscular unit
consisting of one motor neuron and all the muscle fibers that it innervates is called the
motor unit.
Interference — either chemical or physical — with the nerve pathway can affect the
action of the muscle or stop the action altogether, resulting in muscle paralysis. There
also are afferent, or sensory, nerves that carry information about muscle condition to
the brain.
When an impulse moves through the synapse and the motor unit, it must arrive virtu-
ally simultaneously at each of the individual sarcomeres to create an efficient contrac-
tion. Enter the transverse system, or T-system, of tubules. The fiber’s membrane forms
deep invaginations, or inward-folding sheaths, at the Z-line of the myofibrils. The
resulting inward-reaching tubules ensure that the sarcomeres are stimulated at nearly
the same time.
Does it matter whether the signal received is strong or weak? Nope. That’s the all-or-
none law of muscle contraction. The fiber either contracts completely or not at all. In
other words, if a single muscle fiber is going to contract, it’s going to do so to its fullest
extent.

Following are some practice questions that deal with muscle anatomy and contraction:
Nucleus Sarcolemma
13.–17. Match each muscle component with the appropriate region.
13. _____ Myosin a. H-zone
Dark Light 14. _____ Segment of fibril from Z-line to Z-line b. Z-line
A band I band Myofibril
15. _____ Less-dense region of the A-band c. I-band
16. _____ Structure to which filaments are attached d. A-band
17. _____ Actin e. Sarcomere
Portion of skeletal muscle fiber
H zone 18. Which of these terms doesn’t belong in the following list?
a. Anisotropic
Thin (actin) filament
b. Actin
Thick (myosin) filament
c. Myosin
d. Isotropic
I band A band I band M line

Sarcomere e. Sarcolemma
Figure 6-1:
Microscopic
M
19. This part of a muscle doesn’t change during contraction:
anatomy of Z line Z line

a skeletal a. The H-zone

muscle Thin (actin) filament
Thick (myosin) filament
b. The A-bands
fiber.
Z Z
c. The I-bands
Illustration by Imagineering Media Services Inc. d. The Z-lines
 Chapter 6: Getting in Gear: The Muscles 99 100 Part II: Weaving It Together: Bones, Muscles, and Skin

20. A weak stimulus causes a muscle fiber to contract only partway.

a. True
Assuming the Right Tone
b. False As we note earlier in this chapter, when it comes to contraction of a muscle fiber,
it’s an all-or-nothing affair. Nonetheless, it has been demonstrated that fewer action
potentials — a weaker stimulus, as it were — causes fewer motor units to become
involved in a contraction. Maximum stimulus, on the other hand, brings all motor units
Pulling Together: Muscles as Organs to bear together. So it’s true that a muscle organ can have varying degrees of contrac-
tion depending on the level of stimulation. As for how this can be so, one theory pro-
A muscle organ has two parts: poses that individual fibers have specific thresholds of excitation; thus, those with
higher thresholds only respond to stronger stimuli. The other theory holds that the
⻬ The belly, composed predominantly of muscle fibers deeper a fiber is buried in the muscle, the less accessible it is to incoming stimuli.

⻬ The tendon, composed of fibrous, or collagenous, regular connective tissue. If the
tendon is a flat, sheet-like structure attaching a wide muscle, it’s called an aponeurosis.
Each muscle fiber outside of the sarcolemma is surrounded by areolar connective tissue
called endomysium that binds the fibers together into bundles called fasciculi (see Figure 6-2).
Each bundle, or fasciculus, is surrounded by areolar connective tissue called perimysium.
All the fasciculi together make up the belly of the muscle, which is surrounded by areolar
connective tissue called the epimysium. Blood vessels, lymph vessels, and nerves pass into
the fasciculus through areolar connective tissue called the trabecula. These blood vessels in
turn branch off into capillaries that surround the muscle fibers in the endomysium.
Fasciculus Epimysium
Muscle fiber (cell) (wrapped by perimysium) (deep fascia) Tendon
In physiology, a muscle contraction is referred to as a muscle twitch. A twitch is the fun-
damental unit of recordable muscular activity. Complete fatigue occurs when no more
twitches can be elicited, even with increasing intensity of stimulation.
The short lapse of time between the application of a stimulus and the beginning of
muscular response is called the latent period. In mammalian muscle, latency is about
.001 second, or one one-thousandth of a second.
Two types of muscle contraction relate to tone:
⻬ Isometric: Occurs when a contracting muscle is unable to move a load (or heft a
piece of luggage or push a building to one side). It retains its original length but
develops tension. No mechanical work is accomplished, and all energy involved
is expended as heat.
⻬ Isotonic: Occurs when the resistance offered by the load (or the gardening hoe
or the cold can of soda) is less than the tension developed, thus shortening the
muscle and resulting in mechanical work.

But muscles aren’t independent sole proprietors. Each muscle depends upon compan-
ions in a muscle group to assist in executing a particular movement. That’s why mus-
cles are categorized by their actions. The brain coordinates the following groups
through the cerebellum.

⻬ Prime movers: Just as it sounds, these muscles are the workhorses that produce
movement.

Figure 6-2:
⻬ Antagonists: These muscles exist in opposition to prime movers.
Connective ⻬ Fixators or fixation muscles: These muscles serve to steady a part while other
tissue in a Perimysium Bone muscles execute movement. They don’t actually take part in the movement itself.
muscle. Endomysium Blood vessel
(between fibers) ⻬ Synergists: These muscles control movement of the proximal joints so that the
Illustration by Imagineering Media Services Inc.
prime movers can bring about movements of distal joints.

Flex your knowledge of muscle tone and function with these practice questions:

21.–25. Match the muscle structures with their descriptions.

21. _____ Membrane covering a muscle fiber a. Perimysium
22. _____ Bundles of muscle fibers b. Aponeurosis
Q. Muscle movement that lifts an A. The correct answer is isotonic.
object involves an action known as When the tension leads to move-
23. _____ Connective tissue that surrounds c. Trabecula ment (actual work), it’s isotonic.
a. Isometric
a bundle of muscle fibers
d. Fasciculi
b. Eccentric
24. _____ Connective tissue through which arteries
e. Sarcolemma
and veins enter muscle bundles c. Isotonic
25. _____ Flat, sheet-like tendon that serves as
insertion for a large flat muscle
 Chapter 6: Getting in Gear: The Muscles 101 102 Part II: Weaving It Together: Bones, Muscles, and Skin

26. Muscles that tend to counteract or slow an action are called The direction in which the muscle fibers run also plays a critical role in leverage. Here
are the possible directions:
a. Antagonists
b. Fixators ⻬ Longitudinal: Fibers run parallel to each other, or longitudinally, the length of
the muscle. Example: sartorius.
c. Primary movers
⻬ Pennate: Fibers attach to the sides of the tendon, which extends the length of
d. Synergists the muscle. These come in subcategories:

27. Which of the following statements finishes this sentence and makes it not true: A contracting • Unipennate, where fibers attach to one side of the tendon; example: tibialis
posterior
muscle unable to move a load
a. Involves an action known as isometric • Bipennate, where fibers attach to two sides of the tendon; example: rectus
femoris
b. Expends energy as heat
• Multipennate, where fibers attach to many sides of the tendon; example:
c. Is exemplified in the effect of the force of gravity on muscle contraction deltoideus
d. Does no mechanical work and therefore doesn’t develop any tension ⻬ Radiate: Fibers converge from a broad area into a common point. Example: pec-
e. Retains its original length toralis major.
⻬ Sphincter: Fibers are arranged in a circle around an opening. Example: orbicularis
28. A muscle contraction is referred to as oculi.
a. Latency
The three types of fasciae, which Gray’s Anatomy describes as “dissectable, fibrous
b. Synergy connective tissues of the body,” are as follows:
c. A twitch
⻬ Superficial fasciae: Found under the skin and consisting of two layers: an outer
d. Isotonic motion layer called the panniculus adiposus containing fat; and an inner layer made up of
a thin, membranous, and highly elastic layer. Between the two layers are the
superficial arteries, veins, nerves, and mammary glands.

Leveraging Muscular Power
Skeletal muscle power is nothing without lever action. The bone acts as a rigid bar, the
joint is the fulcrum, and the muscle applies the force. Levers are divided into the
weight arm, the area between the fulcrum and the weight; and the power arm, the area
between the fulcrum and the force. When the power arm is longer than the weight
arm, less force is required to lift the weight, but range, or distance, and speed are sac-
rificed. When the weight arm is longer, the range of action and speed increase, but
power is sacrificed. Therefore, 90 degrees is the optimum angle for a muscle to attach
to a bone and apply the greatest force.
⻬ Deep fasciae: Holds muscles or structures together or separates them into
groups that function in unison. It’s a system of splitting, rejoining, and fusing
membranes involving
• An outer investing layer that’s found under the superficial fasciae covering
a large part of the body
• An internal investing layer that lines the inside of the body wall in the
torso, or trunk, region
• An intermediate investing layer that connects the outer investing layer and
the internal investing layer

Three classes of levers are at work in the body: ⻬ Subserous fasciae: Located between the internal investing layer of the deep fas-
ciae and the peritoneum. It’s the serous membrane that lines the abdominopelvic
⻬ Class I, or seesaw: The fulcrum is located between the weight and the force cavity, also known as the peritoneal cavity.
being applied. An example is a nod of the head: The head-neck joint is the ful-
crum, the head is the weight, and the muscles in the back of the neck apply the Got all that? Then try your hand at the following questions:
force.
⻬ Class II, or wheelbarrow: The weight is located between the fulcrum and the
point at which the force is applied. An example is standing on your tiptoes: The
fulcrum is the joint between the toes and the foot, the weight is the body, and
the muscles in the back of the leg at the heel bone apply the force.
⻬ Class III: The force is located between the weight and the fulcrum. An example is
flexing your arm and showing off your biceps: The elbow joint is the fulcrum, the
weight is the lower arm and hand, and the biceps insertion on the lower arm
applies the force.
 Chapter 6: Getting in Gear: The Muscles 103 104 Part II: Weaving It Together: Bones, Muscles, and Skin

29. Which of the following in Figure 6-3 is a Class II lever? 32. Identify the bipennate bundle arrangement.
a. Sartorius
Load Force
b. Rectus femoris

L c. Pectoralis major
d. Tibialis posterior
e. Deltoideus

33. Which of the following is considered a dissectable connective tissue?

Fulcrum
a. Aponeurosis
a
b. Bursae

Load c. Fasciae
d. Tendons
L e. Ligaments

34. The most extensive fascia in the body is

a. Superficial

Fulcrum Force b. Deep

b c. Subserous
d. None is more extensive than the other
Load Force

L What’s In a Name? Identifying Muscles

Figure 6-3:
It may seem like a jumble of meaningless Latin at first, but muscle names follow a strict
The three
convention that lets them be named for one or more of four things:
classes of
muscle
Fulcrum ⻬ Function: These muscle names usually have a verb root and end in a suffix (–or
levers.
c or –eus), followed by the name of the affected structure. Example: levator scapu-
lae (elevates the scapulae).
⻬ Compounding points of attachment: These muscle names blend the origin and
30. Which of the following would provide the force in a Class III lever? insertion attachment with an adjective suffix (–eus or –is). Examples: sternoclei-
domastoideus (sternum, clavicle, and mastoid process) and sternohyoideus
a. Biceps brachii (sternum and hyoid).
b. Spenius capitus ⻬ Shape or position: These muscle names usually have descriptive adjectives that
c. Triceps brachii may be followed by the names of the locations of the muscles. Examples: rectus
(straight) femoris, rectus abdominus, and serratus (sawtooth) anterior.
d. Gastrocnemius
⻬ Figurative names: These muscle names are based on the muscles’ resemblance
31. Which of the following would produce a wide range of movement with speed while sacrificing to some objects. Examples: gastrocnemius (resembles the stomach) and trapez-
power? ius (resembles a tablet).

a. Power arm and weight arm of equal lengths Check out Table 6-1 for a rundown of prominent muscles in the body and key points to
b. Long weight arm, short power arm remember about each one.

c. Long power arm, shorter weight arm